Oberlin College is a business...

...and Nancy Dye cares more about attracting rich donors than supporting the labor movement

To the Editor:

I was excited to hear last semester that John Sweeney was nominated to be Oberlin's 1998 commencement speaker. Since his election as president of the AFL/CIO in 1995, John Sweeney has called for racial diversity within organized labor's leadership, advocated cross-border organizing and solidarity between US and Mexican workers, and critiqued the "American model" of capitalism with its drastic effects on our society. At the Davos economic conference in Switzerland early this month, Sweeney spoke boldly to a room of international business leaders: "The US has been hailed as the great model. But 1 in 4 children is born in poverty. 1 in 5 workers goes without health insurance. The blessings of prosperity have been largely captured by the few". I looked forward to a commencement speech that would stress how important it is for those who want to "change the world" to help rebuild the labor movement in the US and join the struggles of working people for a fairer society.

As I found out last week, however, Mr. Sweeney's invitation has been postponed until 1999. Why? It seems that President Dye, who calls herself a "labor historian" and prides herself on her former work as a union organizer, has joined the attack on organized labor which began with the removal of the Teamsters' leader Ron Carey following the victorious UPS strike. A confidential memo sent to the Honorary Degrees Committee reported that President Dye warned the Board of Trustees that Mr. Sweeney might "become tarnished in the on-going investigation" of finance corruption and recommended suspension of his invitation "to avoid any possible embarassment to the College during the coming months".

And who is the college inviting to speak instead of John Sweeney? Madeline Albright, whose years as Secretary of State and ambassador to the UN have been spent blaming the dispossessed Palestinians for lack of progress in the Middle East peace talks and defending the deaths of Iraqi children in the interests of US control over the Middle East. When journalist Lesley Stahl on CBS's 60 Minutes asked Albright in 1996, "We have heard that a half million children have died. And, you know, is the price worth it?", Albright replied, "I think it is a very hard choice, but we think the price is worth it." Albright's insensitivity and incompetence were further confirmed by her inability to deal with Ohioans' concerns about the impending war at Wednesday's "Town Meeting" in Columbus. But I guess she poses less of a risk of "embarassment" to the school's prestige than a labor leader who has begun to give voice to the growing anger of American working people. As it turns out, Sweeney was only invited as a backup speaker in case Madeline Albright declined.

The Board of Trustees' gutless decision to postpone Mr. Sweeney's invitation should show students what workers at the College - like the 13 laid off last week without proper notice or explanation - have always known: Oberlin College is a business, and Nancy Dye is more interested in attracting wealthy donors to the College than in supporting the labor movement. Oberlin students should decide who they would rather hear at their commencement - and should defend organized labor from its hypocritical attackers like Nancy Dye and the Clinton administration.

-Gillian Russom International Socialist Organization

Good luck to all Senate candidates

To the Editor:

At eleven candidates for three seats, we have nearly four students running for every open Senate seat. This is great news! It's only unfortunate that more than three of our very qualified candidates can't be elected.

We hope that those students not elected, as well as any other interested

students, will consider running in the regular Spring elections, in which there will be ten open seats. In the meantime, we want to remind everyone that there are open seats on some faculty committees and that other opportunities for involvement exist in the form of the advisory councils.

Good luck to all of the candidates!

-Sarah Stein Greenberg Internal Secretary

-Joshua Kaye Liaison

Let's play a short game of Pen the tall-tale on the serial killer

To the Editor:

(This is an open letter to Mary Margaret Towey)

Kevin McShane overreacted, huh? Kevin McShane, the potential serial killer (according to you)? Have you ever seen Kevin McShane? He's not gonna be killing anyone anytime soon. Trust me.

He drew a comic strip. It was -depending on the reader -funny or not funny. It was not, however, a depiction of a real woman getting her real head realistically kicked off. It was satire.

And to Hanna Miller and Susanna Henighan: this cartoon was a hell of a lot funnier than the pornography one, and yes, it did have a political point (at least in my estimation). Just as the pornography strip pointed out Oberlin students and their hypocrisy, so the infamous Lucy cartoon showed that some Oberlin students are hypocritical in their attitudes towards violence. If it's a man getting his ass kicked, ok. But hot damn, better pull those strips in which a woman gets hurt! Can't have any of that misogynistic shit going on, better let the guys keep the violence all for themselves.

(And another thing, Hanna and Susanna - not all pornography involves women. Some of it shows men together. Is that degrading to women too?)

"Get some therapy, QUICK!" Hmm. Perhaps, Mary Margaret, you should think about getting the head that is firmly stuck up your Oberlin ass examined too. Maybe you're the serial killer in the making, not Kevin.

-Jane Glynn College sophomore